The Weekly Geek: Sci-Fi 101

Summer is in its final blaze of glory with the coming of Labor Day weekend, and many lovely internet citizens are back off to school (to learn or to teach). In honor of the season, and as part of a series of articles cheekily marked “Science Fiction University”, sci-fi blog IO9 has put together a wonderfully comprehensive “syllabus” for speculative fiction literature.

As writer Annalee Newitz (a former professor) notes, the intention here is to get newbies up to speed:

“It is intended to introduce the novice student of SF literature to the major themes in the genre, as well as books and authors who are representative of different eras in SF lit (including the present day). So you’ll find a mix of old and new here, as well as fan favorites tucked in among more literary authors.”

It’s also a good idea for die-hard fans to have a look and see what we might have missed over the years. It’s organized by general topic and boasts plenty of links to (legal) free resources, so it’s a must read for geeks who like their spaceships, aliens, computers, dystopian societies and lightguns.

Moving into slightly less literary territory, Milla Jovovich, star of the schlocky-yet-fun Resident Evil movies, is letting fans know that the upcoming installment, Resident Evil: Afterlife, is going to be “sick.”

“She said: "I’m blown away by the things that I’ve seen so far that we’ve done — I mean, we’re flipping out doing it, so I would imagine people will flip out seeing it.It’s in 3D, which is making this movie just come to life in a way that none of the other films can even pretend to, because it’s sucking the audience in," she said.

"It is just the most action-packed, the most crazy, full-on experience that you could imagine from a Resident Evil movie. I think it’s going to be ‘sick!’

“Milla means ‘sick’ in the slang sense of awesome or excellent, of course.”

Well, the zombies in the flicks have always been “sick” in the more traditional sense, but you get the idea. I’ve kind of had a soft spot for the movies – they’re exceptionally dumb action-horror, and based on a game series that long ago gave up the mantle of being the king of videogame storytelling, but still definitely enjoyable. Thanks, in no small part, to Jovovich. The new flick is out on September 10th, so get the popcorn and shotguns ready.